Today the word shin­sen­gu­mi is rolling around in my head like an elec­tric mar­ble. Not sure what to do with that; the storm troop­ers of the embat­tled Shogu­nate don’t seem like­ly to have many use­ful lessons for me to incor­po­rate into my dai­ly work, though I cer­tain­ly feel inspired (in an ADD kind of way) to run to the library and pick up a book or two on Mei­ji Era Japan.

Ahoy, mateys! You may have let it slip your mind, but Nation­al Talk Like A Pirate Day is upon us once again. Why exact­ly this is so is a mys­tery to me, but it is cer­tain­ly not some­thing I would ever dream of resist­ing. Of course, there is always some­one respon­si­ble for such mad­ness; for the details and sor­did his­to­ry check out the offi­cial site (no, real­ly) with the elu­ci­dat­ing head­line “Because we’re guys, and because we can.” Real­ly that cap­tures it whole­cloth, but do vis­it the site for the whole sto­ry; it is engag­ing­ly told and trés amu­sant (I think).